New Milford computer executive writes book about his homeless experiences

By Nanci G. Hutson, staff writer

Published 11:59 pm, Monday, August 31, 2009

For almost two decades, Richard Close was a privileged Fairfield County computer technology executive who wore Armani suits and wanted for nothing.

He donated to charity, but the realities of poverty were far removed from his world.

In a matter of six weeks in 2003, Close's comfortable life unraveled -- debts from a divorce and the collapse of his business interests left him penniless.

On a cold December night, after stopping at the First Congregational Church, where he deposited his last $1.36 in a collection plate, he asked his two teenage children to drive him to the Bridgeport Rescue Mission.

Now destitute, Close needed a place to sleep. He was familiar with the program because in better times he had volunteered to help market its programs.

What he found in addition a bed was mercy.

Over the next 10 months -- between Bridgeport and its sister mission in Albany, N.Y. -- the now 57-year-old not only rebuilt his life but found a hope and dignity he thought he had lost.

The mission provides emergency shelter for 30 men and 15 women, as well as a year-long program for as many as 35 men and 15 women with drug addictions. It also provides some 34,000 meals a month through its three meal-a-day soup kitchen.

"A rescue mission is the quintessence of the best of what Christianity is,'' Close said he quickly discovered.

Mission guests pay no fee to stay but must help with daily chores; some attend classes about everything from financial management to anger therapy if they have no daily job.

"When someone comes here they are brought into a safe world that gives them time to heal,'' Close said.

It matters not whether you are a fallen corporate executive, an abandoned single mother, or a drug-addicted teen coming in from the street.

"The mission is neutral ground,'' Close said. "I just fell in love with the place. "I was a successful businessman who had all the answers, and I came here and found out I didn't have anything.''

Close may be an atypical client, but the mission's executive director, the Rev. Terry Wilcox, said his story is "pretty typical.''

The mission experience is often so profound that one-time guests become volunteers, donors, even staff members, Wilcox said.

The clientele, regardless of their faith, come to live out the principle that it is better to give than receive, he said.

Now remarried with four stepchildren and living in New Milford, Close again works as a consultant for the computer education industry. He has also become a self-appointed missionary to impoverished villages in Africa.

He just finished a book titled, "Inside ... The Gospel Rescue Mission,'' a collection of free-form poems and photographs of the people and experiences he encountered at the mission.

"It's a compelling story,'' said New Milford Shelter Coalition ppresident Patrick Farquharson, who met Close last week. "You'd be hard pressed to say this guy is a loser, but he fell on a rough spot. And he admitted it was mostly his own doing.''

Farquharson said Close is living proof "this type of mission works.'' Homelessness need not be a life sentence.

"If it weren't for (the Bridgeport Rescue Mission), I'd probably be dead,'' Close concluded.